Will Friedle Previews Bumblebee’s Growth In ‘Predacons Rising’

One of the stars of the new ‘Transformers’ movie gives HollywoodLife.com the scoop on a fan-favorite character’s evolution.

Brace yourselves, Transformers Primefans; the all-new Beast Hunters movie, Predacons Rising, premieres tonight on The Hub — and Will Friedletells HollywoodLife.com to expect “very cool things” to happen, including some unexpected growth from his own character, Bumblebee!

Read our full Q&A with Will below, then watch the premiere of Predacons Rising, which will be available on DVD

>> First of all, how does it feel to be a part of Transformers?

It’s one of the biggest animated franchises ever, so to be a part of it at all is huge. But to get to be Bumblebee? I was over the moon.

>> How much of your own spin did you put on Bumblebee?

It was easy for me, because it was dictated so beautifully in the writing. The character is so good and the story is so good that I didn’t need to look anywhere but on the page. With Beast Hunters, especially, they built this character without ever having [Bumblebee] speak. So the whole character was already there, and to do that without having him ever say a word was incredible.

>> What can we expect from Bumblebee in Predacons Rising?

You can expect Bumblebee to grow up a little bit, to take the next step in the ranks of the Autobots. Some very cool things happen; this is a film for Transformers fans, and animation fans, in general. I’ve been telling everybody it’s one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen in my life. The animation is a 10 out of 10. To be involved in any way is pretty huge.

>> One of the prettiest things ever? That means a lot from you, since you’ve been in the animation game for a while now.

I’ve been doing this for 15 or 16 years now. The first one I did was Batman Beyond, which was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I’ve been very lucky in the characters I’ve gotten to play — Batman, Lion-O, Blue Beetle, Bumblebee, Ron Stoppable. I sit back and pinch myself every once in a while.

>> I actually just re-watched Batman Beyond on Netflix recently. I had no idea it was on there!

That’s a show, I think, with some serious staying power. You can watch it today just like you watched it back in the ’90s. The stories are strong, the animation is strong.

>> Of all the characters you’ve voiced, which one would you most like to reprise?

From a completely selfish and personal reason, I wish we had done more ThunderCats. I grew up as a ThunderCats fan, so selfishly I would have loved to play Lion-O longer. I was also writing a number of the episodes, which I had a hugely fun time doing. So I would’ve liked to have done that more, and I still think the fans need to rise up and say we should do a direct-to-DVD movie wrapping up the story. Where it was heading was incredible.